Sunday, January 31, 2016

Members of Canadian Anti-Muslim Groups Seem Immune to Irony

Back in November we wrote an article comparing the rhetoric found in contemporary anti-Muslim Facebook groups (focusing specifically on PEGIDA Canada) with that of the Nazi propaganda:

Not long after the German occupation of Poland, Nazi propagandists produced the film, "The Eternal Jew." The film, presented as a documentary, was an especially pernicious and sadly effective piece of propaganda that aimed at normalizing hatred towards the Jews of Europe by presenting them as sub-human deviants and liars who fed off their hosts like parasites. The film was an attempt by Nazi propagandists to justify to the German people what was soon to come. It dehumanized Jews to the point that extermination was reasonable in order to maintain the racial integrity of the state and which was no worse than killing rats. "Patriotic" Germans could watch this film filled with blood libels and feel perfectly justified in viewing the Jews as somehow lesser. Worse than "lesser" in fact.

The themes of, "The Eternal Jew" examined such areas as Jewish religious practices, Jewish manipulation, Jewish degeneracy, Jews as not being truly human, and the Jews as "parasitic." Though claimed as a documentary, most of the subjects were forced to participate under duress by the occupying power and much of the footage was actually cut from pre-existing feature films and presented as real footage. The only documentary footage in the film was shot in the ghettos of Krakow, Warswa, Lodz, and Lublin.

As a student of history, this writer was well acquainted with this propaganda film and the language of dehumanization that was used to justify hatred. This writer was also troubled by the parallels that exist in the rhetoric used in the propaganda film and that which is currently being used to describe Muslims in Canada by PEGIDA Canada supporters.

As we've noted in other articles (including our most recent) PEGIDA Canada and its supporters is not the only such group that emerged on social media. In addition to PEGIDA Canada, the members of ARC are also following Canadians Against Justin Trudeau, WCAI (Worldwide Coalition Against Islam), III% Canada, Canada Defence League, Never Again Canada, and Canadians United 4 Canadians among others. The members of all these groups express the same dehumanizing and malignant hatred that in the past resulted in genocide:

It is interesting then that a member of one of the aforementioned anti-Muslim groups would have posted this very same infographic to Canadians United 4 Canadians wall:

It is particularly puzzling when one looks at other comments, links, and images they have posted both on the anti-Muslim group's and their own Facebook walls:

So, what is the explanation for such seemingly contradictory positions?

Simple.

They don't realize that the infographic warning of the dangers of religious bigotry, intolerance, and hatred is referring to them:

To understand just how tone deaf these folks are, two links posted the same day to the same groups are rather instructive.

The first is one in which members of a Swedish hate group has apparently taken to the streets in the country's cities and have started to randomly assault people with dark skin:

The reaction is to celebrate the assaults:

A second link posted the same day refers to a story picked up by World Net Daily which purports to provide video evidence of a child being taught how to behead people in a Canadian mosque:

We've seen this link posted numerous times. The truth of the video is a little less dramatic. What is apparently being depicted is the martyrdom of Muhammad’s grandson Husayn ibn Ali. In some ways it is similar to the Passion Play that many Roman Catholics are familiar with and which are performed in Catholic Schools in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. Somehow we don't think Catholic schools will be accused of teaching children how to crucify people when the play gets to the part when the child playing the Roman soldier is nailing Jesus to the cross.

But since the folks at Canadians United For Canadians don't understand nuances like that, their reaction is to either shut down all mosques in the country or to burn them down:

So, shall we take a look at the infographic again?

These two examples alone seem to hit all of the points, save the one regarding politicians playing on the prejudices of a Christian nation. Perhaps at least here they aren't as tone deaf and at least acknowledge the secular nature of Canada's government.

Or, maybe not:

We shouldn't be (and really, we aren't) surprised by the cognitive dissonance exhibited by the members of these groups. Ultimately they exist in an echo chamber in which hating Muslims (and, by extension because of his policies regarding Syrian refugees, Prime Minister Trudeau) is all that is necessary and consistency, accuracy, or evidence are irrelevant. Take, for example, this post on Canadians United 4 Canadians used to condemn Trudeau for not doing anything for homeless Canadians:

The subsequent responses attack both Trudeau and the refugees:

So Trudeau is blamed because there is poverty in Canada, something that apparently has only been a problem in this country since October 19, 2015. The problem with that?

Yeah, Mr. Harper was Prime Minister in 2013.

So, with this in mind one would think consistency dictates that they would be equally upset with the former Conservative Prime Minister who, during economically better times (in part because of massive stimulus spending the folks at Canadians United 4 Canadians condemn as economically unsound when it is proposed by the now governing Liberals) allowed poverty rates and homelessness to exist.

One would be wrong in that assumption:

What we continue to find remarkable is how much these people hate the democratic institutions they claim to love when they don't get their way.

Sure, there is some very minimal disagreement, but really very minimal.

While we are highlighting Canadians United 4 Canadians here, we really could have focused on any of the groups mentioned earlier:

2 comments:

124
said...

Edmonton wannabe nazi goof Joshua (Josh) Banko https://thedirty.com/gossip/edmonton/regressive-doucheturd/#comments This guy runs the Canadian atheist site which has less to do with atheism and more to do with Muslim bashing.

Nice article. Get over to Ontarians for a Recall Election and see it posted and the paranoia it has induced. Irony is totally lost on these people which makes them prime for lulz...but as nice as this article is, you get in there with the sword of Critical Thought and help them cut through the mucky muck of there cognitive dissonance. I see none of my posts in these groups are included in your article, but I bet you could pick me out. I'm actually schooling a Canadian version of the guy in the EDL video about Critical Thought and logical fallacies right now. It's an 11 on the lulz scale....

The ARC Collective

Follow Us On Twitter

Mission Statement

A group of diverse but like-minded individuals, the members of ARC have come together in their common desire to fight hatred, bigotry, intolerance and violence because of the harm these antisocial behaviors cause to our society. In that effort, we will not use or sanction the use of illegal actions (such as violence or intimidation) in pursuit of our desired aims and if we learn of anyone who does use these unethical methods we will report those individuals to the authorities. Instead, we will use the guarantees found in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that ensure freedom of legal speech and expression.

For Those Who Wish To Contact Us

Our contact email is arc(dot)collective200(at)gmail(dot)com for anyone interested in getting in touch with us.